Forever Nevermore
by Desenchanter
Summary: She fell in love with the prince at a young age, but what girl didn't adore him? As a commoner in their chaotic world love meant little if anything and she couldn't hope for it to save her again.
1. Untold Tale

**Summary: **She fell in love with him after the prince saved her, but what girl didn't dote over him? As a commoner in their chaotic world love means little and she couldn't hope for it to save her again.  
**Note:** only the first segment is in first-person, everything else is in third.

_{-|_**.x. F**_orever_** N**_evermore_** .x.**_|-}_**  
**_{_** .x. U**_ntold _**T**_ale_** .x.**_}_

**[.]**

_Everything used to be fine, I used to have a family, and we all used to be happy. I lived in this quaint little villa on the outskirts of the town I grew up in, the name doesn't matter, because it no longer exists. Truth be told, it's but a crater, a barren land of rubble and unmarked graves. I was so young; I had yet to even strike the tender age of ten when the war began. This endless cycle of doom and gloom, the thing that took the world's glee away. At least mine and everyone I have met since then. I suppose I can't truly speak for the world, now can I?_

_It was night when the bombs began to fall from the sky. I was a bratty overly privileged child who's parents spoiled her eternally, so when they wouldn't let me have desert after dinner I threw a tantrum and ran out into the forest behind our house like I so often did before. I always came back when the sun disappeared, that's why they never came looking for me._

_I wish I wasn't so predictable, perhaps they would have searched for me, perhaps they all wouldn't have been in the house when the black, metal, sphere dropped upon our home. I was walking back with my head held low out of defeat when the energy from the explosion shot me off the ground and my head into a tree. I'm grateful that I was knocked out in the bushes or I might have heard the screams as the foreign soldiers plundered the once vibrant city… I might have heard the cries of my family as they burned in the flames._

_Mother, father, brother, grandpa…_

_I woke the next day when the sun was high in the sky, though you couldn't tell from the thick smog of dust and smoke that clotted out the rays from shining down on the ruins. Not a building stood, when I finally managed to get to my feet I could see everything totaled, nothing but crumbling walls and… bodies in the street._

_Dead, bleeding, smelly bodies—that image has haunted me to this day._

_Tears trekked down my dirty, dry crimson flaking cheeks as I walked up to the brunt wood that I once called my home. My knees gave way as I fell to the ground, even at such a naïve age I was aware no one would have lived through whatever had happened. _

_I knew I was alone._

"_Papa," I still muttered all the same as I let my forehead kiss the ground, "papa!" I was father's little girl, he'd do anything I asked, I had him wrapped around my pinky finger, so why did he not come when I called? As he always did before? _Always… _but for forever nevermore._

"_There's a little girl alive over here!" I heard a man cry vaguely, it was in the background at best as my body shock with a sorrow I did not know could existed. _

"_Hello," I heard a hush repeat a few times so I bothered to push myself off the ground enough to meet a pair of eyes that reflected the sun that no longer brought light to my life. _

_Was it in that moment that I fell in love?_

"_Are you alright?" he inquired, my eyes moved up his face to see his ears twitch upon his silver mane. Hanyou, I've heard of them but my home was purely human. Demons were a high society type, my hometown by the sea wasn't good enough for most of them. _

"_My papa…" was all I could say in return as my eyes wondered away from the boy a few years my senior, I was in far too much turmoil to even wonder what he was doing there._

"_Come with me," he requested as he held out his hand for me, I couldn't help but notice the gleam his sharp claws gave off. Why would someone need those? Our country was peaceful… at least, it used to be._

"_My papa…" I kept up as I blinked another fresh, warm, set of tears free. "Why won't my papa come?" Once more, I looked him straight in the eyes as they widened. What was it that I said that surprised him so?_

"_I want my… papa."_

_His brows flexed together as he clenched his hand and kneeled down beside me, but even then he was still taller, still towering. "Do you know who I am?"_

_I shook my head, why would I? _

"_I'm Toashi Inuyasha."_

_I was young but not ignorant of such an important name, the Toashi family had been leading our country for centuries. "I want my papa," I said nevertheless, as if the words didn't affect me at all. Honestly, back then, they didn't. I didn't care that I was in the presence of royalty. I didn't care that he was cute. I didn't care about his fine clothes and fresh armor. _

_I wanted my papa, my mama, my brother, my grandpa._

_I wanted my life back. _

_I wanted to reverse time. _

_Later, only then, would I want to go back far enough so that I, too, could have been in that house it burst into flames. _

_He pressed his lips together as his eyes wondered all about my face, "I'm sorry… but you can't stay here. We've come to check on the village and remove all survivors… there's nothing left for you here."_

_How true, but there was nothing left for me _anywhere_._

"_Please," I coaxed out unsteadily, "I want my papa."_

"_I'm sorry," he muttered, apparently I wasn't permitted anymore time to grieve because the prince picked me up to carry me to a vehicle already filled with the damaged, dirty, and dismayed. "I promise," he began on our way over, "I'll make him pay for this."_

_I didn't know who 'him' was, not until a few weeks later when I was left at an orphanage would I over hear the caretakers talking about the rival king in the country beside us, Naraku, they say his name is, who wished to expanded and take all of our country, who wished to destroy the Toashi family. _

_I hear, it's all because of some ancient grievance between the Toashi family and Naraku's. So, tell me, how is it fair that their family is the only one that's left whole throughout this mess? How is that mine is gone and his is whole?_

"_What's your name?" he asked as he set me in the back of the truck._

_I wonder if this all happened or if I made bits and pieces up along the way, I was traumatized, it was all a fog. I doubt he truly asked for my name._

_Either way, I remember staring into his endless amber abysses and never giving him an answer, I can still feel how tightly I wrapped my arms around my knees as the truck rolled away. All the while, my eyes were still locked with the young prince's._

_I was told that the princes were all sent to see the consequences of war so that it would become real to them._

Consequences_ they say, as if it was expected, as if it was just another part of life… I suppose it was, but I still feel insulted, hurt, destroyed._

_It wasn't _just_ a consequence to me, it was the end._

**[.]**

Once upon a time there was a gracious girl that still found a way to smile after her world fell down around her. This girl went from town to town with the others after each of the proceeding ones were destroyed or marred. One wouldn't be able to tell that their country was thus far 'winning' the war from the way town after town was crumbling to pieces. Or was it simply whichever she chanced upon? Yes, this girl thought she was a jinx. This girl was sure she only brought death.

This girl could shine on for those around her, the fair-weather friends she made and children she tended to care for at whatever local orphanage needed aid, while her soul was shattering.

This girl watched as the war waged on, as all the boys her age left to their impending deaths surge after surge, and as the crime rates of all towns went up.

Rape, plundering, murder, they were all so very common they were considered almost mundane. Side effects of the combat—_consequences_—but do not fret, it would end just as soon as the fighting did.

That's what everyone told everyone else, that is.

Somehow, she had been lucky enough to only have been beaten once or twice and whatever little money or food she had upon her at the time was taken. Yes, that was _lucky_ for someone in her country.

The gates were broken, hell was let lose.

All luck has its limits, unfortunately, and young Higurashi Kagome was about to discover that as she walked about after curfew, hidden in the shadows of the barely standing buildings about her as she hurried along. Curfew was for their own protection, she knew it, and she always meant to obey the laws but she had a far to pressing matter to regard than ruler's command. A young boy that she had grown quite fond of at the orphanage she aided at times fell ill and his temperature sky rocked. He needed medicine that the overly populated place had ran out of and he needed it _now_ so she dared volunteer to go to the pharmacy that one of the caretaker's uncle's owned. He was phoned before she left that she'd be on her way to get the proper prescription; he lived right above the place so there was no risk involved for him.

She succeeded to get there and the bottle of pure liquid and she was but a few meters away from the gloom infested building so she was sure she'd make it.

Until she felt the grasp of a hand upon her shoulder and her body yanked back and against the very walls that once covered her from any onlookers. None of that mattered like the bottle slipping from her hand and breaking upon the rocky ground. That was all she focused on as the solider started to shout at her for breaking the rules and calling her one horrid name after the next. Her wide, wavering, hazel eyes couldn't see anything but the liquid as it drained out onto the barely paved street until the very calloused hand that had first grasped her took her chin harshly and yanked her to look at the ugly, scarred, man.

"Bitch," he repeated for the umpteenth time, "you're the waitress from that bar, eh?"

She did what she could for money; waitressing was the best way she knew how.

"I remember seeing these fine curves," he grinned to show his rioting teeth as he pressed his excited body against hers. "I remember thinking 'if only there was no one else around' as I watched your ass sway away."

No, _that_ simply wasn't happening to her. No, not after everything else. No, her purity was all she had left.

Simple stated, _no_, she couldn't allow such a thing to occur.

"Please," she whispered unsteadily as her breath quickened, "no… please…"

That rising crime rate that was mentioned prior didn't include the fact that the very soldiers assigned to protect the cities were the ones behind most of it, now did it? What could people do? They were the ones with the weapons, the ones with warped minds from the war, the ones that everyone _needed_ to protect them in case the other enemy showed… they could do whatever the pleased.

And many of them desired unwilling companions for the night, _many_.

"What was that?" he chuckled, "please, yes?"

"Please," she shook her head but it was little use with his hand still firmly holding her chin. It was the last moment of fresh air she'd have before his chapped lips collided with her untouched ones. No matter how she struggled he over powered her, he took both of her hands into one of his and rose it above her head to keep them from getting in the way as he tore at her top to reveal more flesh that no man had ever seen. Skin that had never known the warmth of a man, not until then. She had never romanticized about a better future, about any real future, but _if_ she ever relinquished her innocence she had at least hoped it was to a man that she was partially fond of and that he would be gentle.

Instead she felt nips and tugs on her skin and disgusting drool leave a trail behind his assault as more and more of her clothes were given up. She could scream, she could cry, she could beg for someone to save her but she was no longer naïve. It was past curfew, no one would come to save her.

It was punishment, they always said, if a girl was assaulted while out at night. People would hear her cries, maybe even some would look out their windows into the alley and watch, but no one would stop him. Not another soldier, not another soulful citizen.

She shut her eyes tighter than the weak flesh would allow. Her thoughts were raging as she still tried her best to fight back the inevitable—for some reason whenever misery truly ensnared her, her mind would go back to _him_. Every girl she had ever met was in love with one or both of the debonair princes, so she was no different. Reality was, he probably did not even remember meeting her.

And that reminded her of how cruel reality was as she was shoved to the ground and kicked in side to get her to turn over as he pinned her down onto the dingy, murky street.

Why couldn't he save her one more time?

All of this was a consequence of a war that was, at the heart of it, _all_ his family's fault. Hers was gone because of it, must she lose even more?

'Save me,' echoed about in her mind but never left her smothered lips as hands groped their way down to part her thigh. He was far stronger, far bigger, far crueler than her, he didn't even care to restrain her hands any longer. Perhaps that was what excited him more so his lower extremities to salute fully finally.

"No!" She shrieked once his mouth and _tongue_ finally left hers, her hands trying to push him away all the while until they tapped against a bulge. Her eyes widened.

She didn't even think of it as it was happening, it just _happened_. It had to… it had to. There was no other way, she couldn't do anything else. He was stronger; he was… so she grasped that bulge with all her might and pulled it out of its holster to pull the trigger.

Never before had she used such a thing… but it worked all the same, the echo of the bang that came from the barrel would stick with her forever. The way his eyes widened and mouth opened in a silent scream would, too, before he toppled to the side to drown in a pool of his own blood.

Muffled attempts to talk came out in splats of blood as he reached his once so powerful hand out to her but she shook her head as she scooted away, the offensive object still in hand until his dropped to the ground. He died in that moment and she was sure she saw the life fade from him… his eyes were still locked to her even after death.

A shaky breath came in before an erratic one left, another in, another out. It wasn't happening, there was simply no way. No matter how many times she'd try air didn't free the burning her lungs were producing. Water dripped freely down from her unblinking stare.

She didn't even notice the hurried footsteps of his comrades coming to check on what the commotion was all about. They wouldn't respond to her screams—if she had ever bothered to make some—but beware of a gunshot! They'd come running.

She didn't even hear them curse behind her as they evaluated the scene. She just felt two of them grab her arms as the third took the gun away and smacked her upside the head with it. _Almost_ enough to make her fall unconscious instantly but not there yet… it was enough to make their threats and other hollers fade as they pinned her to the ground swearing they'd do worse to her than _he_ would have. She barely noticed as the remainder of her rags was torn away.

The last thing she saw before she let stupid slumber take her was a figure right there, right above her head, the lights from the street emulating his head to give him a halo.

An angle…? Did she deserve one to save her any longer?

**[.]**

She awoke to a peaceful hush she did not know still lingered anywhere in the world, no matter what time of day there was always noises to pollute the town or a silence that made one's skin crawl at night. When did the sun learn how to shine again? The curtains that hide most of the flaming ball's rays danced in the spring breeze… curtains? That got her to finally keep her lazy eyes open and look around at the room, luxurious would be an understatement.

If her head did not bang with such pain she might have sat up and evaluated it more, but it did along with the rest of her body so she simply lied still and took in all she could from there. The bed she rested upon was soft, frilly, and even had a canopy to close her off to the world. Her skin wasn't directly touching the luscious fabric of the high-quality sheets so she was clothed in something equally fine, a cotton gown she assumed.

What had happened?

Erratic memories wiggled their way back into her battered brain until she couldn't deny them any longer. She remembered… she _killed_ a man, granted a monstrous one, but another human all the same. Then there were his three friends and that light… the blinding figure.

"Where am I?" She muttered finally as she let her head fall to the other side so she could see the one side of the room she had yet to glance over. Right away, her hazels widened and she found the strength to sit up.

"You're awake," the man that sat there said simply as he marked the page of the book he had been reading before he set it on the bed stand. "You had quite the nasty head injury, but the doctor said you'll be fine."

Where had all the air gone? How did she breath again? What mussels were meant to move?

"You are safe now," he soothed with a gentle wave of one of his hands, "lie down."

She was dreaming… or perhaps she had died and gone to heaven? What else could explain having her prince sitting at her bedside? No, not _her_ prince, _everyone's_ prince, and not _her_ bedside, "where… am I?"

"At an estate that I'm staying at, it's a fair distance from the closet town. You're lucky that I had gone there last night to discuss matters with the general posted there or else I wouldn't have chanced upon you," before she got gang-raped, but he didn't feel like he had to add that. She looked stunned as it was, and why wouldn't she? He was the prince; it was probably ever girls dream to wake up with him or his brother—hell, both of them—beside them. A prince had saved her; she could probably die happy now.

"Oh," she breathlessly gasped as she looked away. Again, he had come to her rescue. Or… had he? Was it truly _again_ or was it a first? It was a first. Yes, it had to be, he didn't rescue her before the bomb went off. He didn't free her family from their fate. She lifted her hand to tenderly touch her bandaged skull, it seemed all she had to do was get a bad bash in the head and he'd appear. If only she had known that earlier…

"Oh," she muttered again as she turned to look at him and lower her hand to grasp the fabric that lay before her heart, "I… I… that man… I shot… you have to…"

"I understand," he assured her with utter indifference, "I'm not ignorant to what happens to pretty girls."

Did that mean he thought she was pretty? Her heart almost leaped up from joy before reality crashed down on it, "no, that's not what I meant," she swallowed, "you have to throw me in jail."

"Why?" he ridiculed with a raised brow.

"I… I killed a man," she murmured, was that not already obvious?

"Wasn't it in self-defiance?" He questioned as he folded his arms upon his chest.

"Yes…"

"Then forget about it," he stated swiftly, carelessly, as he stood up and pushed the chair back to the humble table in the corner of the room.

"How can you say that?!" Shocked him before he could exit the room, he glanced back at the flustered girl, "how can you say that?"

"What are you talking about?" he sighed, did the hit on her noggin affect her brain more so than the doctors had predicted?

"How can I forget?" She inquired before she briefly pressed her lips together and blinked away the possibility of tears. "If you know how I can forget something so horrible, please tell me, I'd love to know…" she'd erase _everything_ then.

There was no answer from the apathetic prince as he stared at her blatant distress, he hadn't planned on it, he had just decided to play hero and make sure she was fine then release her back into the wild world but… "rest, you'll be staying here until I am certain you are alright again."

"How can I be alright after something like that?" She whispered to herself, certain that he didn't hear it as he left.

But he did all the same. If she was never alright… then she simply would never leave. He'd see to that.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading, please review. This isn't going to be an epic tale by any means, it will only have three chapters and that's it.


	2. Fortune, Not

_{-|_**.x. F**_orever_** N**_evermore_** .x.**_|-}_**  
**_{_** .x. F**_ortune, _**N**_ot_** .x.**_}  
_**[.]**

'An estate', that was what the prince had called the place… where 'estates' the equivalent of palaces? It was all so grand, the hallways were even decorated with finest paintings and immaculate carpet, and while she awed at all this as she tried to find her way to the stairs she also felt her stomach turn. It was sickening, the prince—a _Toashi, _the reason for the war—could live such a fine life while all others suffered. What right did he have to all of this? Was it only because he was lucky enough to be born into an affluent family? Should they not have to endure like the rest of the country?

Simply said, it wasn't fair. Alas, so little in life was, so she couldn't find it in her tattered heart to hold it against his royal highness as she walked down the stairs.

"Ah, Madame," a woman started, startling the still jumpy girl into grasping the cloth of her gown above her heart once more, "pardon me," the maid bowed her head, "Prince Inuyasha is waiting for you in the dining room."

"Dining room…?" she muttered with a blank façade, which way would that be?

"I will lead the way," the maid assured; apparently the look on her face asked her unspoken question for her. It was not hard to find, she probably could have gotten there on her own, but all the same she followed her down the hallway and to the light filled room. It was almost blinding, she had seen the sun and felt its rays since the day her hometown was torn to shreds but it had been dull, lifeless, like everything else in the land. Yet, being in the 'estate' that was not marked with the gloom everything else was… made her see how it still shined, the way it gleamed off of the sitting, stoic, prince did not pass by her, either.

He was charming, thus far, and as handsome as all the black and white pictures in the papers said he was. He was kinder than she could have hoped for; allowing her to stay there for an entire week until her head injury was just a healing scab and her side no longer ached from the kick she received. He had come to check on her every now and then, sent a doctor once to do the same, and had the finest food. Oh, just thinking about that made her mouth water. For so long her country had been placed under a food ration, at least the _commoners_, and most the meat, cream, cheese, and generally anything that could make a meal taste good was diverted to the troops. She understood, obviously the boys that were surely going to die for their country deserved all of that and more but… oh, it was still so nice to have fine food. She hadn't had fresh fruits in maybe years so she had been devouring strawberries one after another and another, and great green grapes!

After each of her meals she'd be given miniature cakes of all types. She hadn't had cake since she was a child, it was… like a dream. She found she enjoyed carrot cake far more than she did back then. All of it was, and it wasn't just _her_ dream, it was all the girls in all the country's. She wasn't the only one that stared at the striking prince with awe, she wasn't the only one that had been in love with him since she was a child, and she wasn't the only one that fantasized about him showing up on his white horse to save her. Perhaps she wasn't the only one he saved, either…

He could have any woman he wanted, from the prettiest, to the noblest, to the finest, to… _anything_. He could have far more than she could ever offer, she could never dream to compete.

She was a commoner; she didn't even bother to get her hopes up as he waved her over to sit at the table with him. Breakfast had been served and for once she decided to leave the large room he had given her and join him. He set the papers he had been carefully looking over aside once she sat down across from him, with just one glance she guessed they had to do with the war somehow.

"I'm glad to see you feel well enough to get up and walk around," he courteously commented while his eyes wondered to the help that began to pool in, two brought them plates filled already with the finest food, two set a spread of jam, bread and fruits between them, one brought them two glasses each as another two came around asking if they'd like coffee or tea—Kagome took tea, Inuyasha took coffee—while their other glass was already full of orange juice.

"This is so much," she awed, her wide eyes moved around the entire table. It was almost… no, it _was_ too much. "I often help out at orphanages… this would feed so many of them, they'd be in nirvana."

His eyes flickered up from the food to her, she had yet to free her hands from her lap, people often tried to win his respect or something of the likes by acting noble, and that was certainly a dignified statement yet… he was positive from the way she looked at the spread out before them instead of him it wasn't really for his benefit that she said that. "You say 'help out' does that mean you do not work there? You do it in your spare time?"

"I haven't anything else to do," she stated simply, softly, as she picked up the small and far to elegant spoon—after all they were simply going to eat with it—and cracked the egg so she could get the hardboiled center.

"No companion to return to?" he coaxed as he picked up a piece of bread and began to spread his jam.

No _male_ companion, she got the feeling that was what he was prodding at, or maybe it was simply because she had always been told stories of how the eldest prince and heir to the throne, Sesshomaru, was the stoic and ever so serious one who could easily take over the country whenever his father passed and that the younger one from his Highness' second marriage, Inuyasha, was a bit of a philanthropist when it came to _women_, pretty ones, at that. He was generally allowed to do more of what he wanted, at that, since he would never take over the throne—well, in less his brother prematurely perished but few expected that from the powerful full blood.

"No, I don't," she murmured back. She didn't have _anyone_. Any friends she might have made along the way were taken, not always by death but sometimes from the chaos that follows after whatever town she lived in was destroyed or invaded by the enemy. That experience ceased to be so scary after the fourth occurrence.

"Do you live with your family? Anyone I should send notice to?"

"Nope."

"No?"

Was that such a hard concept? He had actually been there when she lost everything, well; at least he arrived shortly therefore after.

"I'm sorry."

"It happens," she replied with a shrug, "I'm alive… that's more than many can say." Whether that was a good or bad thing had yet to be decided.

"So…? You'll return to that town to… what? Friends?"

"Acquaintances, I'd say, it's dangerous to make friends nowadays," she replied before she bit into one of the fresh strawberries, she _loved_ them. Her mother and her had always planted a garden of fruit behind their home… would she outlive the war long enough to do that again? Would she have anyone to share that joy with?

A child of her own? She probably would never have one that was by birth hers but she could always take in an orphan or two, the very idea brought a smile to her face.

"Why is that?" He muttered as he tapped his fork against his slowly empting, his eyes wondered all about her face. She was a mystery to him, in so many ways, what did he know of her beside her name? Now, he could add 'alone' to that ever so short list.

"Why is what?"

"Is it 'dangerous' to have friends?" Was she cynical behind that sweet smile?

"Oh, yes, well, it's hard. You make friends then the town is totaled and you lose track of them when you flee to somewhere new. If you have friends then you only worry about them endlessly and chances are low that you'll ever see each other… it's sad," she mumbled back.

She was real; _she_ was what happened to normal people in the war. A pang of guilt struck him as he watched her courteously eat the meal he was providing; it wasn't out of hospitality really but… remorse. His family was distantly related to the royalty of the country beside them, of Naraku, through marriage thus blood. Honestly, the very idea that the same flows through that _monster_ as it d did him made him want to vomit. It was his family that was at fault for all of this; long ago they had broken all ties with Naraku's family and did not bother to come to their aid when they were being invaded.

Much to their surprise, Naraku pulled out victorious and more powerful than before. Now he wanted revenge, and their country as a consolation prize.

Making amends to one girl would not free his family from blame. It would be useless… it would not make a difference. It wouldn't make the world a better place.

**[.]**

"Oh my," she gasped while she cupped the white and pink flowers in her hands, "Apple Blossoms, I love these." She hadn't seen such a grand garden in so long; spring had brought life to the area. There were pink with red tints azaleas, orange with purple and blue birds of paradise, blue bachelor's buttons, and so much more. It was beautiful, perhaps _the_ most beautiful scene she had seen in years.

"You look happy," she heard from _right_ behind her. She jumped up and grasped her chest as she spun around to see the prince ever so close, "sorry," he grinned.

"It's fine… you just startled me," she replied weakly, "I love flowers. They're colorful and perky and pretty. You don't see them much anymore."

"Do you like bellflowers?" He inquired vacantly as his eyes wondered around the garden.

"I do, I adore the purple ones," she assured with a smile as she walked up to kneel down before him and cup a particularly large azaleas delicately in her hands.

"You should see this place in the summer, then, they take over the entire place…"

His voice was so strange that she couldn't help but glance up at him to see his gaze locked indifferently ahead of them.

"You are feeling better?" he asked that often, each day, at least twice if not three times.

"Yes," she retorted as her eyes wondered back to the flower her fingers brushed against.

"No, I mean," he murmured as he knelt down beside her, "are you feeling better?"

Her hazels moved away from the flower to his ambers, it was only then she figured out what he was trying to get at. She wasn't so good about hiding her dismay over her actions, granted they were just, she was only protecting herself but… she still took another's life. It wasn't her place to do so…

"Decent, I suppose," she murmured, "it's not something you get over in a few weeks."

He still didn't get why she felt so bad, it was for her own good, the man was going to _rape_ her so why did it bother her so much that she accidently shot him? She didn't know what she was really doing, she was in such a panic, and she couldn't be a fault. The other night he had coaxed her into telling him what had happened, and he had told her just that.

It was odd the way she spoke with him… no one really _talked_ to him; they said what they thought he wanted to hear, or whatever might win his good grace. Everyone wanted him to like them; all women wanted him to love them. He'd been able to decipher at a young age who was truly speak their mind to him, only a hand full dared to do so, and those who simply said pretty words. Only one girl had ever done the latter, and he was fairly certain Kagome didn't bite her tongue to please him. It was almost as if she was oblivious to the fact that he was royalty, she treated him probably no different than she would any 'acquaintance'.

He respected her for that, and for all the times in the past two weeks that she blatantly stated that all he had could be in better for the orphans she was so fond of, then again, she was one herself so why wouldn't she be partial to them? No one had ever told him that 'you have too much and do too little', everyone praised him for his heroic actions in war, he'd told her just that and she didn't falter. She hated war, no good came of it, and how could there be anything heroic about it?

Nevertheless, she spoke her mind and he adored that.

"Perhaps with time," he whispered as he took her hands into his, winning her gaze instantly as he rose them up to mere centimeters from his lips.

"T… Time, yes," a grin coated his lips at that, at least she _was_ human, at least he could get her to stutter some and lock her awe-struck eyes with his as he pressed her fingers to his lips lightly.

She was like every other girl, her eyes glimmered.

** [.]**

Summer set in and she had yet to leave, she had offered to quite a few times but he had refused to let her go. 'I am supposed to allow a damsel in distress to return to that hell hole while she's _still_ in distress?' was his typical responds, he never seemed too terribly attached to the subject. It was a passing comment, one he barely lingered on as he returned to look over the maps and documents generals and lieutenants had been sending him to review. The prince was injured at the start of spring, almost killed, and thus his father pulled him off the battle field to recover. He thought he was fine, better than that, he could return to battle but his father kept telling him to take it easy.

'The war would not end soon, my son,' he always told him, 'you needn't be so hasty to return. Take the summer.'

He was itching to return, he was _so_ close to getting Naraku himself. The bastard never fought his own war, he sent spawns to do his dirty work but Inuyasha had tracked him down and he was _so_ close to breaking the barrier that protected his 'Highness' and killing him, ending the war for certain in the process.

Instead, he was stabbed in the gut with a massive sword.

Now… now he found a way to scratch that itch, keeping the free-soul maiden around made it easy to find a reason to stay.

"What are you doing?" Her renewed, perky, voice startled him enough that he dropped all the papers he had been examining onto the table. Generally, she didn't bother him when he was in his study trying to find a better way for their military to attack and researching past assault patterns in the history books. So what was different this time? Why'd she dare to pass into his zone? He didn't enter her room any longer; it was her sanctuary, so…? Not that he really minded, though.

"What I'm always doing in here," he retorted as he rearranged the papers he had dropped, it was a useless effort, though. There were too many papers spewed across that he'd never be able to clear the table. Not that he was good at cleaning, not that he had ever tried…

"You sound snippety," she muttered as she watched him give up on stacking all the papers and turn to him, "I know you like to be left alone in here but… it's really late and I hadn't seen you since lunch… did you eat?"

"It's not that," but he stopped himself when his eyes wondered to the window, when had the sun gone down?

"Exactly," she chimed, "I don't think it's good for you to lock yourself away in here and become so… ensnared in such depressing matters. Do you ever do anything fun?"

"You are always saying I'm blessed, that I have so much, but now you think I don't have _fun_?" he muttered as he rested his hand against the large oak desk and leaned against it, "you are fickle in your opinion of me, aren't you?"

"You are in a bad mood," she countered with a bit of a pout as mirrored his actions, "you still have a lot of possessions but that does not mean you are happy. I never accused you of such. You read books on battle strategies, you review plans that are sent to you, you revise them, you make calls to generals and such, you do this and that all day but you do not seem to do anything for recreation. You know what they say, all work and no play makes you a very dull prince."

"Is that how it goes?" he taunted right back, "I doubt it goes like that, particularly the 'prince' part."

"I…" she started softly before her eyes moved from him to the massive amount of documents, "I used to resent your family. In a way, I suppose that included you… I thought so often, why did I loss everything but their family is still stayed whole? Why if this war was started to get back at _them_ must the rest of us have to suffer? I thought all of that every day…"

Instantly, his entire entity rigidly stiffened, his hand upon the table formed into a fist, he knew many thought that but no one had ever said it to his face. If it had been anyone else the guilt would have been mild at best but it was _her,_ the girl that had earned his admiration. "And… now?"

"Now," she dragged out for some time before she looked about all the endless papers up to him, "you try really hard to make up for it, don't you? It's not your fault… for something your ancestors did," she assured as she slid her hand to his fist, "you should forgive yourself. If you don't… when your father finally lets you go fight again, won't you just get yourself killed?"

His tension faded just like that, all it took was her gentle touch, "you… mean that?"

"Very much so," she comforted candidly with a nod, "the last thing anyone wants is one of our princes killed. After all, in a way… Naraku will always lose if the Toashi family survives, regardless of whatever else might occur, right?"

'_Our_' prince, not '_her_' prince, he was never _'hers_', he was the prince of their country, nothing more… did she not want anything more? Was she truly not like every other girl he had ever chanced upon? Did she not desire to become the next princess? Did she not want all the fancy clothes, jewelry, and everything else that would come with such a title? Everyone else did... why no her? Perhaps this was all just an elaborate trick, perhaps she just wanted him to believe that… no. She didn't have that type of mind, she probably didn't care.

Honestly, at least… he hoped so.

He didn't think, he was sick of it, so he leaned forward and closed the gap between their lips, just briefly, just to gage her responds. Her wide eyes and frozen figure was what he had hoped for, she'd be leaping onto him if she was really just trying to sneak into his favor. He pulled his hand away from hers and placed it upon her cheek to pull her back once more.

Her hands jerked up to his shoulders as he yanked her against him.

It wasn't her first kiss, that monster in the alley took that but it… it was better. His lips pried hers apart bit by bit as he licked his way into her mouth. Her eyes popped open right then; his _tongue_ was in her mouth mixing with hers? Did she like it? She didn't hate it but… what was she supposed to do? How was she meant to respond?

Should she? He was the prince… she was not princess material, so what was this meant to do? Respond only to be toyed with for a night, maybe the rest of summer, and then discarded? Or push him away and keep their boundaries set as they were?

His free hand wondered to the small of her back and slowly her hands slid down the back of his shoulders until she loosely wrapped them around his neck and tried to match his talented tongues movements, it was more than obvious to her that this was not his first tango.

He could toy with her; she could find joy in that. If only for a moment…

He tugged her closer to gently lift her off the ground and turn her so she could sit on the table, his next task was to open her thighs so he could scoot in and press himself to her. Their faces were perfectly aligned, it made it all the more fun to nibble at her lips and pry them away until his kisses could journey down to her jaw line, down to her neck, down to her shoulder as his hand pushed sleeve of her dress down to expose more bare skin.

Why not? Was all her mind beckoned; why not allow her first time to be with a prince? _The_ prince, her particular favorite top it all off? She had almost lost the chance to give her premier occasion to another freely, who's to say that that simply will not happen once she returns to the real world? She couldn't stay with him forever, so why not…?

Why'd she have to be perfect, why'd she have to pretend she's happy always? _Why not_ allow this to unfold?

Why not turned into 'why, yes, she enjoyed when he did that' and 'oh, the way he touched her was… simply splendid'.

She gasped in air as she fell back onto the cushion of opened books and aimless papers; the top of her dress had been undone and opened for his assaults to continue down his collarbone to breasts. She threw her head back and arched her body up to his touch, his tugs upon her nubs. Her spike in arousal did not elude his nose and it only encouraged him all the more. After all, why not continue if she apparently wanted to just as much as he?

His hand slid down her side until he found the fabric of her skirt and hiked it up until he could feel her silky thighs. He took care to message her leg as he slowly moved it from the outside to the inner thigh and gently fiddle his way up to her throbbing area. It was a sensation she hadn't known, the way that his caresses, kisses, and suckles could get her nether regions to leap around with need even before he pulled her panties away in one swift movement. A minute moan left her lips as she moved her hips towards his impending penetration.

She wanted more and he was pleased to oblige with one swift slid of his clawed fingers, if he didn't take care while he jerked his digit in and out of her then he could easy nick her tender skin with his nail, of course, he never would. He didn't want to hurt her, not by any measure… yet, distantly, somewhere deep in his mind, his heart, he knew by tomorrow morning he would have. By tomorrow he'd confess what he should have told her before he pinned her to his desk and hiked up her skirt, before he pulled his finger out and mouth away from her breast to lick his hand clean of her essence.

But he wouldn't, he couldn't, it would mean he'd have to stop.

"Are you ready?" he inquired as he worked to undo his own pants and allow them to fall down.

"Yes," she breathlessly declared.

A grin tainted his features as he promptly pushed his way into her, breaking her innocence, taking what she could never have back. She screamed and clenched her face in agony, he knew that'd happen. He hated it but he couldn't stop the pain from occurring, it was better to just go all in then slowly enter, at least he was told so but the way she closed her eyes and let twin tears trickle down her cheek as she bit her bottom lip begged to differ.

"Relax," he coaxed as he began to move within her, slowly, back and forth, not too deep.

The twinge that panged with each of his thrusts was almost too much, she grasped at his shirt when he pressed his lip to her. She wanted to tell him to get off, to stop; she didn't even notice the force she yanked on his shirt with made his the few buttons on the top pop off. It gave his fabric just enough give to allow his clothes to cascade down his shoulders. It was only fair that he expose more skin, she was nearly bear below him.

Then he spun his hips to twirl his efforts within her and the pain fell to pleasure. She finally did as he requested, she calmed herself and let her hands scoot up to wrap around his neck once more.

He quickened his pace when he felt she could handle it. The best thing about virgins—not that he knew, he'd like to lie—was how dreamily tight they were. How blissful that felt around him as he plunged deeper into her with each pound until, by mistake, he found a spot that made her moan into his mouth and run his hands up his neck to grasp his hair.

He found he liked that, a passionate Kagome was something he'd enjoy to see more of, so he gave exclusive focus to hitting that mark over and over again.

She let out a shakily, thrill filled breath once he freed her lips from his. "More," she moaned. Her fingers twirled in his silver tresses as he gave in to her request. His actions mimicked her fingers; with every other thud he rotated his hips to give her a new sensation. No, to give _them_ a new sensation.

Finally, her fingers found his overly sensitive silver squares. It was a mistake when she first rubbed them but she wasn't _too_ lost in bliss to notice his rhythm was offset by the action. She couldn't help but grin when he moaned against her skin. Of course, she did it again and again as he gave up his pattern and thrust in without any real purpose. His mind was lost to all that she could do to him; just as hers was to his.

She was the first to cry out and clench around him, he was quick to follow and fall upon her as it occurred.

That night, they never left the study.

**[.]**

She didn't have to wonder if it was wrong, she knew they both thought so when she awake wrapped in a blanket on the floor beside the desk they were ever so intimate upon _alone_. There was no ache, she had anticipated it. There was no point in being overly optimist, no point in thinking the world would cease being the unreasonable place it was.

She sat up and looked about until she could find her tattered dress and pull it on so she could shift down the hallway and to her room to bathe in silence. To wash all the evidence of what had occurred off of her, it was enough… last night was enough.

Was she ever _famished_ after the whole ordeal, too. There was nothing to be ashamed of, right? They were consenting adults… but it still took too many breaths to gather the courage to walk out of her room and to the stairs. If only she had left earlier or a moment later than she wouldn't have ran into him as he stepped off of them to meet her face-to-face. Both of them just stared for a bit… she couldn't lie, a part of her wanted him to say last night was fabulous and that he needed her in his life forever. That they could somehow go to a beautiful never-ever-land and live happily ever after… that she had fallen into a delightful fairytale where all was right with the world.

Of course, that was idiotic.

Useless hope… she hated it.

"I love you," never came. Instead he just looked about her face with a wrinkled worry on his. "Last night… Kagome, we need to talk."

"OK," she replied softly. She already knew what was to come… at least, she thought she did.

"I care for you," he muttered, "but I can't love you. My heart belongs to another… it has for a long time, I'm sorry, I really am… I admire you. I hope you don't come to hate me for this…"

Her eyes widened, 'we shouldn't be together', sure, she would have expected. But… but… he loved another and still found it alright to be intimate with her? That _hurt_, that wasn't fair… ha, what was? Why would she think it would somehow be otherwise?

"I'm sorry," he repeated all the same, "I just… I've been looking for her for so long and you've been here… I'm sorry."

So she was simply convenient? Oh joy… she sighed as she looked away and stepped by him to go down only one stair before she grasped the railing and turned around to look at him once more. "It's fine."

She seemed so certain, it had to be a lie, "you have every right to be mad at me." He'd prefer it if she hit him, actually.

"No, it's fine," she kept up with a nod, "I've been in love with you since I was a child. I don't regret last time, it was nice, and it was all I could have hoped for. You can't remember this, it was so long ago, but we met once when I was just a child. My home had been bombed and I was… traumatized, to say the least. You showed up and carried me to a truck to make sure I got out of that ruined… place. I've always thought about you since then, so I don't regret last night. I'm glad it happened, and if I could go back in time and know what I know now… I would do it all again."

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

"I'm really happy I got to meet you and that I got to know you. That's enough; I've lived a fairytale more so than any other girl could hope. Thank you for that."

No… _no_, he could take everything but what she just told. She could not… could not thank her after all of that. No.

"I'm going to go now," she stated with a nod, "goodbye, Prince Inuyasha."

It simply wasn't possible for him to find words as she walked away… how could this be?

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks for reading, please continue to review. I'm having fun with this fairytale-isk story, it's just my take on the whole common girl meeting prince. I know there are oh so many out there. I just felt too many of them were unrealistically happy so I had to write my angstish version :)

I hope you enjoy. By the way, my polls pretty much at a tie between Damned Darling and Requiem of the Damned thus... that's not all too helpful, if you have no voted could you please go and do so? I would be very thankful and you would be the greatest for certain :)


	3. Happy Never After

**Note: **The first segment of this chapter will be in first-person.

_{-|_**.x. F**_orever_** N**_evermore_** .x.**_|-}_**  
**_{_** .x. H**_appy _**N**_ever _**A**_fter_**? .x.**_}_

**[.]**

_I was on a vacation in the south section of my country with my mother and father, everything was happy back then. My mother was always smiling, my father was always chuckling, and I was, too. Everything was great… then we heard the news, not too far from us a city on the border by the sea was totaled. _

_War was coming, my father hasn't smiled since and my mother's health has started to weaken. I think it's because of all the misery that she fell ill. _

_My father told me that nothing would ever be the same and of our family's connection with Naraku. He told me, without saying so much, this was our family is at fault and our country would suffer for it. It was because of that that he sent me to the sight of the massacre with the first wave of soldiers. It was a search and rescue mission, to try and save anyone that was left... to kill any enemy we chanced upon._

_It was… the worst sight I've ever seen, I'm sure that's not really true. I've seen so many things I wish I could forgot since then but it's just… _that_ was the first time I ever saw such misery. The first dead body, the first bloodshed, the first leveled city..._

_That was the first time I saw her, too._

_"There's a little girl alive over here!" One of the soldiers shouted as he hauled an injured person over his shoulders and headed towards one of the many trucks._

_If no one could go to her, I'd snap out of the shock I was in and retrieve her. I could do that much. I hoped and prayed that she wasn't battered. I wanted her to be fine; I couldn't see another armless person… another bloody nearly decapitated. _

_She was on her knees and head to the ground; I held my breath as I walked over to her, "hello?" She didn't respond, "hello?" I said it a few times in a hush before she pushed herself off the ground to look up and meet my gaze, she had the prettiest hazels._

_Something clicked in me at that moment._

_"Are you alright?" I inquired; I glanced all over her person to make sure she was alright. Her head was bleeding but otherwise she looked fine. Thank the gods._

_"My papa," her eyes wondered away from me to the ruined home. I could only assume that was hers, she couldn't have been inside of it… no one within that place could have lived._

_"Come with me," I requested as I held out my hand to her. She just stared at it as if it was a foreign object, her eyes were so empty… so blank. She must have been in such shock._

_"My papa…" she whispered once more as she blinked a series of tears free. I felt my heart break for the first time at that. I could go home to my dad, why couldn't she? Why did this have to happen? My country was so peaceful for so long… why now? "Why won't my papa come?" My eyes widened as hers looked straight at mine, he must have been in that house… he's dead. Never had so much guilt taken hold of me, I wanted to embrace her, I wanted to make everything OK._

_"I want my… papa." I wanted to give her that, but I couldn't. My brows bent together as I clenched my hands and knelt down beside her._

_"Do you know who I am?" I watched as she shook her head, "I'm Toashi Inuyasha."_

_There was no glimmer I always got when I told people that, she just stared at me with the same lifeless gaze, "I want my papa."_

_I can't give her that… I can't give her anything. Everything was gone for her… but I still could go home to a loving mother and a powerful father. I pressed my lips together as my gaze wondered all over her. She'd become a beautiful girl, if she could live through whatever was soon to come… "I'm sorry… but you can't stay here. We've come to check on the village and remove all survivors… there's nothing left for you here."_

_"Please," she coaxed out shakily, "I want my papa."_

_"I'm sorry," I muttered again, I couldn't leave her there… I wanted to hold her so I swept her up in my arms and carried her towards the vehicle. She was so small. This was the only thing I could give her, "I promise. I'll make him pay for this."_

_I pressed my lips together as I set her down in the truck half-full of tattered souls. I had to know, "what's your name?" I couldn't follow her, I couldn't make everything OK, but I'd find her again. I'd make sure she was fine._

_She didn't ever answer, though; she just stared at me as the truck began to fade away. I can't imagine she'd ever be OK again._

_I'd find her again, if it's the last thing I do. I'll keep my promise._

**[.]**

"Wait!" Inuyasha shouted as he leaped out of the door and stopped the chauffer that had been summoned to take Kagome back to her town. He was only in shock for a moment, how did she already get a car to come around? "Wait," he repeated as he yanked open the door to look at her.

"W… What?" She replied meekly.

"What was the name of the town? The one where we met when we were younger?"

"My… my hometown was called Seimone, why?"

His breath was hitched in his throat at that moment as he slid to rest against the open door. "It's… you."

"I am me," she weakly retorted with a raised brow, "are you alright, prince?"

He didn't say anything in return; he just pushed himself off the door, placed his hand on the back of her neck and yanked her forward so their lips could collide. He found her. He didn't mean to, he didn't know, but he had her. Finally.

She cut that joy short when she pushed him away and cover her mouth, the cruelest look he was sure she could muster was written across her scowling face as she glared at him. Behind her hand she mumbled, "don't. I said I don't regret last night but that doesn't mean I will… you love someone else."

"I love you," he assured on a breath as he held his hand in for her, "I remember you. I've been looking for you. I've been thinking about you. I'm so glad that you are alright. I have been… hoping to find you but you never told me your name. I had no idea where to look and even if I ran into you… I wouldn't know what you look like. My nose wasn't working that day or else I would have memorized your scent," there was too much death in the air, decaying flesh, burning bodies, everything was so overwhelming he couldn't have noticed her lovely scent.

"You… you do?" She whispered as her fingers slide down her lips.

"Yes, _yes_," he leaned forward to kiss her once more, "stay. Stay here with me, you haven't anyone to go home to, I want you to stay. You've won my heart over twice already; I'm more than willing to give it to you exclusively."

"Twice…?' she muttered as she took his hand and let him help her out of the car.

"When we were young," he kissed her forehead, "and again since spring. I'll get down on my knees to beg you to stay, if I must."

"You don't have to," she assured as she rested her head against his chest. He could feel him wrap his arms around her and rest his chin upon her ebony waves. "I'll stay."

"At the end of the summer I will return to the frontlines, Kagome…"

Her heart ached at that but what could she do?

"I swear I will come home if you are here waiting for me."

"I'll always be here; I've been in love with you since I was a child… why would I ever leave?"

"Good," he whispered as he pulled her away just enough to place another soft kiss upon her lips before he dropped to one knee, perhaps it might appear rash but he had been looking for _her _for two decades, how cold he let her go again? "I'm the second in line, my old brother will never be killed since he's far too stubborn, so marry me? No one will care that I married a commoner. If anything, I think it would be enduring. It would be a way for my family to apologize to all those out there and to give them some hope and to assure everyone that we still care."

"Prince…"

"Inuyasha, just call me that," he requested as he took her hands into his, "Kagome, please?"

It was dream; she had fallen into a true fairytale, who would have thought? She smiled all the same, "of course."

When the summer ended he'd return to the destruction that tore their land apart, to the dismay of constant death that lingered around all battlegrounds. When summer ended, he'd go forth to fulfill his promise to his wife, even though he knew she'd rather him stay with her and never be put in the line of fire again, and that she'd be worried out of her mind about him each night that passed by without a call or letter. When summer ended, they may never see each other again…

… but until then, they'd be together to live happily ever after, even if for but a month.

* * *

**A/N:** Just a short chapter to end this tale. I didn't feel like making an actual definite ending because... well, obviously life's not like that. Well, I hope you enjoyed and continue to review. Thank you for reading :)


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